Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

I am going to commit sacrilege here, on so many levels, if you’re a hardcore paleo person, stop reading now. If you’re my sister, stop reading now, you will be grossed out. I like bacon, I am overall a fan but I don’t love it, not like most people and going paleo-ish is tough on breakfast. Pancakes are gone, waffles are gone, etc, especially if you’re also going low-carb with it so what’s an only average bacon liker to do? Be creative! This morning as I was making my usual spinach, onion and pepper omelette and getting ready to bake my bacon when I thought, “what am I doing!?!?!? I don’t want bacon again?!”

Here’s a recipe for a quick seafood omelette that, for some reason, has escaped me for a quite a while, basically it is my regular spinach, pepper and onion omelette with some canned salmon tossed in, you could use tuna (I wouldn’t) or crab (I might) or some other mild fish, it was quite amazing. One note about seafood, there is a problem (not getting preachy), you really only want to buy from sustainable sources, if you don’t agree you’re probably dumb and if you don’t why you should agree check out, http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx and they’ll explain it better than I ever could. Anyway, on with the recipe:

1/8 cup onions (I usually mix red and yellow)

1/4 cup red/yellow/green pepper mix

1/4 cup of raw spinach

Pinch of garlic salt (to taste)

Ground black pepper (to taste)

1 can of salmon, deboned, in water, sustainable source, etc

2 eggs

Saute onions and pepper together and once they’re start to get soft, add in the salmon and season well, once the salmon is warm add in the spinach and sauté until done, remove from heat to a plate. Whisk together the two (cracked) eggs and then pour them into the pan (you can add olive oil if you want), cook as you would a regular omelette and when its near done, add the filling from the plate and flip one side over. Then serve and enjoy!

I belong to this cool farmer veggie of the month club (http://www.farmerjonesfarm.com/) that basically does all the hard, dirty work for me and ships me fresh veggies once a month, it was my xmas present to myself. I got the second shipment the other day with a real surprise, it had something called “Rainbow beets” in it. I admit I was perplexed because I had never heard of them before so I cut into one and, well, it looks like 1/2 beet and 1/2 potato, I needed no further research, off I went to cook them up. Here is the resulting recipe:

Start by “greasing” the pan with the duck fat, not too much, a little goes a long way then add in the peppers and onions on low heat until they start to sizzle a little, add in the rainbow beets and potatoes, mix everything up in the pan and cover, increasing the heat to medium. Stir occasionally, it takes about 25 minutes or so for the beets and potatoes to really cook down, I like mine to cut with just a fork so your mileage may vary.

About 1/2 way through this process start heating some olive oil in a grill pan (or just cook the chop on an outdoor grill if it isn’t -30 degrees where you live) and pre-heat your oven to 400, coat the chop in olive oil then salt, pepper and garlic to taste then place in the hot grill pan and sear the chop on each side. Once seared put the pan in the oven for about 6 minutes for medium, more time for more doneness.

This was really good, that is all. It doesn’t sound like much but it is much more than the sum of its parts, enjoy!

1 reasonably sized butternut squash (cubed)

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 red pepper

1 onion

Minced Garlic

Chopped Basil

Sliced Chicken Breast

Chicken Broth

Fresh or Frozen Spinach

Fresh mixed greens

Sun dried Tomato dressing

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and put the squash, chopped peppers and onions with spinach into a roasting pan, pour in about a cup of chicken broth and put in 1/2 the garlic and basil. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes or until the squash is tender. In a skillet cook the chicken breast in broth, garlic and basil until done. Serve over mixed greens and top with sun dried tomato dressing.

1/2 cup of sauerkraut (I prefer high quality organic stuff but that’s just a preference any will do)

Garlic and Basil based on your tastes

1/4 cup of chicken broth

Pour the chicken broth into a pan and put the chopped kielbasa in, letting it brown. After it browns add in the peppers, onions, basil and garlic, cook until peppers are tender but still crisp. Once that is cooked up add in the mostly drained sauerkraut which you will only need to really warm. Serve over spinach or mixed greens to add some more nutrition. Enjoy!

I don’t know what the love affair with eggs that all the cool Paleo people have is all about but they’re pretty tasty. I’ve cooked eggs in just about every way imaginable but some mornings there’s just nothing like some simple fried eggs except when you add tomatoes! I first did this over an open wood fire and it was exceptional but I was lazy this morning and wasn’t cooking anything else so I didn’t want to go starting a fire just for a few eggs and a couple tomatoes so I did this one over the stove, still good though. Enjoy!

Fry the eggs to your liking (I prefer over medium) in the melted coconut oil and season to taste, flip once. Once they’re flipped drop two slices of tomato in the skillet and get them nice and warm, seasoning to taste. Serve eggs over tomatoes. Couldn’t be simpler.

I have seen SOOOOOOOO many variations of this, most just tuna salad with avocado cups or crab salad in the same but you know what? Basically tossing in some mayo and onions for variety. However I’m a rebel, so I decided, “why not BOTH?!?” I know, totally living on the edge. Anyway, sometimes I like to have lunch and even more times I like to have tuna with my lunch and some days I even like a warm lunch so this is a win. Pretty much every step of this can be omitted or altered so have fun with it. Enjoy!

2 Avocados

1 can of tuna (in water, wild caught or whatever the cool thing is now)

1/2 cup of cubed lump crab meat

2 Tablespoons of mayo (homemade or Hellmans with Olive Oil)

Diced onions

Diced red, green, yellow peppers (yeah I know I have a problem)

Coconut oil

Garlic Powder

Salt & Pepper

Paprika

Sautee the onions and peppers in the coconut oil until they’re tender but still crispy, toss in the tuna and crab meat just to warm them up a bit. In a mixing bowl spoon out the innards of the avocados, leaving the shells intact (I popped the shells in a toaster oven for a few minutes to warm them up) and add in the mayo, garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste. Once the tuna/crap/onion/pepper mix is ready add it into the bowl as well. Mix it all together, now here is where we might have a philosophical disagreement. Some people like to really mash up the avocados but I like to leave it a little chunky, again, I’m a rebel, do what you like. Anyway, once mixed to your liking scoop heaping spoonfuls into the, now toasted, avocado shells, top with paprika and enjoy. In case you’re wondering, yes, I had a lot of fun with this recipe.

When you’re buying kielbasa, or any kind of sausage really, try to know where the sausage comes from, buy local whenever possible. I’m not sure there are any real health benefits to buying stuff locally (though I’m sure some would argue) but it does make good common sense especially with stuff like sausage. There is just something about being able to point to a map and say “I’ve been there” when you’re eating, I dunno what it is. Anyway, I live in Ohio and lucky for us we are rich in sausage making ethnicities so finding great local sausages is usually pretty easy. The kielbasa I used in this dish was local and delicious, I hate sounding cliched but you could almost “taste” the freshness. Anyway….

1 kielbasa (about 1/2 lb or so)

1/2 each diced red, yellow and green peppers

1/4 diced onion

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

1 Tablespoon garlic powder

2 – 1/2 cups natural/organic sauerkraut, drained

Cut up the 1/2 lb or so of kielbasa and start browning it in coconut oil. Once it is browned add in the tri-color peppers and onions and garlic powder. Once the onions and peppers are cooked down add in the sauerkraut and cook until the sauerkraut is done which should take less than five minutes or so. That’s it.